Edo 2020: Committee on APC members mobilisation nullity – Oshiomhole’s faction

By Osagie Otabor, Bénin

The faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State loyal to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has described the setting up of a Committee on Membership Mobilisation as an exercise in futility.

It said Barr. Anselm Ojezua that set up the committee headed by Hon Matthew Iduoriyikemwen ceased to be Chairman of Edo APC on November 11 when the required number of members of the State Working Committee passed a vote of no confidence on him.

Ojezua has last week raised a 49-member committee to swell the ranks of Edo APC by wooing members of opposition political parties into the fold.

Spokesman for the Oshiomhole’s faction, Chris Azebamwan in a statement said the removal of Ojezua was ratified by the National Working Committee.

He said: “For this reason, any action he purports to take as Chairman is also a nullity and an exercise in futility. Simply put, Ojezua is not legally qualified to constitute any committee because he lacks the authority to so do.

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“Let me use this opportunity to advise my brother the Governor Godwin Obaseki that he will go through primaries to actualize his ambition for a second term. Ojezua has become an albatross and Obaseki should let go of him. Ojezua is worth only one vote to him. The Governor can find some other ways to compensate Ojezua but trying to sustain Ojezua’s tenure as State Chairman is counter productive.”

Azebamwan also said his removal as State Publicity Secretary of Edo APC, portend a grave danger to the supremacy of the Party as a legal entity.

He said he was elected to the position at a State Congress, and there were constitutional provisions for nullifying his mandate.

“The press statement merely quoted a faceless Edo State APC, without indicating the organ of the Party that took the decision, or the grounds on which the faceless characters sought to hinge their illegality.

“For the record, the position of State Publicity Secretary is not an appointment, it is an electoral mandate. Therefore, their pronouncement is a nullity, and an exercise in futility. Let them test its validity by obtaining its ratification.”

Edo State Assistant Secretary, Ikuenobe Anthony, had in a press statement said  Azebamwan was replaced with Rev. Joseph Osagiede in line with article 17 (v) of the APC Constitution 2014 as amended.